“Thank you.”
“I sure hope you have a wonderful time, Mr. Smith.”
I nearly tripped over my feet at her tone. “Did you have a photo of me so you knew I was the right Smith or something?”
The hostess beamed. “Yes. I was also told that if you try to run, I’m supposed to make clucking sounds. I refuse. However, I do have a recording of who I believe are your brothers making those chicken sounds.”
“Why would I run from my date?” I asked, but I didn’t need her to answer. I didn’t need the hostess to say anything because I knew what had happened.
Myra sat at the table, looking regal and sexy as fuck in a tight black dress that showed off her curves with the tiniest bit of cleavage that begged me to look.
I wasn’t going to look.
Simply because I knew what she looked like naked when we were younger, didn’t mean I knew what she looked like under her clothes now. And I wasn’t going to imagine it either. She had filled out a bit more and looked even sexier than she had when we were together, but that didn’t mean I needed to focus on it.
Her honey-blond hair had been curled back from her face, the tips brushing her shoulders. She looked gorgeous, sweet. And I knew that once she looked up, I would see those blue eyes. And I would fall.
I would hate myself.
“Here you go, Mr. Smith.” The hostess walked away as Myra’s gaze shot up. Her mouth dropped in surprise, and I saw…mortification in her eyes.
“You,” she stuttered.
I didn’t want to make a scene, but I had no idea what I was supposed to do. If I ran, there would be fucking clucking noises. I had a feeling that my brothers had either bribed the hostess well, or the woman was somehow friends with our friends. I wasn’t sure. But, Jesus Christ. I couldn’t run now.
Though if I sat down, I wouldn’t be doing so in front of the woman who was friends with my friends. No, I would be sitting down with my ex-wife, our past between us like a third person in our party.
However, I didn’t have a way out of this, and I wasn’t sure I could outrun the chickens, let alone my past. No, there was no turning back. And, honestly, I didn’t think there ever had been—not since I saw Myra across the room after so many years that first time.
So, I took a deep breath and sat down across from her, ignoring how her hand tightened around her phone. “Hello, Myra.”
“Did you set this up?” she asked, her voice a hiss.
“No, your friends and my family did. Because they have a cruel sense of humor.”
She flinched. Tonight wasn’t what I had expected, and yet, there was no going back.
“They told me they had lists of dozens of names for me to go through for this pact so I could find my date and happiness. But, apparently, you were first on the list. Now I’m a little worried to see who’s next.”
My head hurt, and I couldn’t reconcile my lack of control over anything. Which was probably why I sounded like an asshole when I next opened my mouth. “Apparently, I am your list, baby.”
“Don’t call me baby,” she snapped before closing her eyes and letting out a breath. “We need to stop doing this. We told ourselves that we would stop doing this.”
My hand fisted on the table, and I nodded, forcing myself to relax. “You’re right. We may hate each other, but we have to be friends.”
Once again, she flinched, but it was the truth. We did hate each other. We had thrown the words at each other before. There was no taking them back. “How are we going to do this?”
“We did just fine when we were watching Joshua when Dakota lost all her babysitters.”
Her lips went white under her gloss as she tightened them. “Because we had a common purpose—to keep him safe. But we still fought.”
I nodded, frowning down at the menu. “True. But why do I feel like the animosity has only increased since?”
“Maybe because it has?” she asked and then sighed. “I hate this. I hate that I don’t feel comfortable in my skin when you’re around.”
I frowned.
“Not like that,” she corrected. “Because I feel like I’m two steps behind, and we have so many secrets. Huge secrets, Nate. And we’re keeping them from our friends and family.”
“We are,” I said, knowing where she was going with this.
“They don’t know why this is so horrible for us. They don’t realize that we shouldn’t be together across from each other at a table. Alone.”
I sighed. “Are you saying we should tell them?”
She played with the wine glass as the waiter came. She looked up and put on her best smile, though I knew it didn’t reach her eyes.
“If the gentleman is ready to order, I am,” she began.
“Sure, I can find something quick.”
“I’ll have the salmon, only be sure there’s no shellfish.”
“Of course, ma’am.”
“I’ll take the filet,” I said, looking down at the side dishes. I recognized a few things, but I wasn’t sure I had ever had them together. This wasn’t a place where you picked your sides. It was up to the chef, so I went with it.
“How would you like your steak cooked?”
“Medium-rare?” I asked, and Myra gave a slight nod. I hated that I felt relieved at that.
Whenever we went out when we were younger, especially when we went to the fancy places for an anniversary or something, she helped me order. After all, she had grown up in that world. I was good at ordering from Applebees, not so much for places like this. Every once in a while, I went out to similar places with people I occasionally worked with, but it wasn’t the same since it was a work thing. And while I always liked my steak medium-rare, apparently, being in front of Myra meant I felt like I needed confirmation.
I hated that feeling. Like we were stuck in the past, yet somehow needed to be in the future.
It made no sense.
“We’ll get that right out. Would you like bread?” the waiter asked.
“Sure.” I didn’t move my eyes from Myra.
“Their bread is delicious,” Myra said, playing with her wine glass stem. “And back to if we should tell them… I don’t know.”
“If we do, maybe they’ll stop trying to set us up,” I countered.
“Perhaps. Or maybe the betrayal will be so great that they’ll want nothing to do with us.”
“Arden already knows.”
Myra winced. “I know. But there was no keeping it from your twin. Especially not when she saw my ring.”
“True. If we tell the rest of them, they’re going to get upset with her, too.”
“They damn well will not,” Myra said. “We will take the blame for everything if and when we tell them. Arden does not get touched.”
I tried to ignore the pride I felt at Myra stepping up and protecting my sister. I didn’t know who I was to Myra, not anymore, and I didn’t even know how I felt about her.
I hated what she did to me and who we were in the past, but I really didn’t know this woman in front of me.
Maybe that was the problem.
“Your best friends are with my brothers. Every single one of them.”
Myra nodded tightly. “There’s no escaping that fact.”